Small Business Bookkeeping Tips

Having a bookkeeper on your in-house team is ideal, but
not all small businesses can afford to have one. If this
is the case, you can do it yourself or utilize some of
the employees you may already have to do the bookkeeping
tasks.

It’s important to keep your personal and business finances
separate in order to keep things straight when it comes to
tax time. Don’t confuse yourself more by trying to mix the
two together.

You want to keep thorough records of business transactions
and accounts receivables. When tax time rolls around, you
can just use these to add up the figures instead of spending
time shuffling through scraps of paper in a shoebox.

Balance the books right away. Don’t wait for several
transactions to occur and then decide to balance them.
Some business owners put it off and then the task seems
insurmountable.

Be sure to check your financial statements often to determine
where you’re spending too much or too little. You may discover
if there are ways to cut costs in your small business or if
there are ways to budget some extra items into your business.

Always keep up to date on the new tax laws and regulations.
Don’t wait until tax time to check them out. There may be
something you can use now that would help you save money when
it’s time to file your taxes.

Always keep copies of all of your invoices in case the
originals get lost. If using computer software, make sure
you back up all of your files so that you have a copy in
case something unforeseen should happen.

Research all of the possible tax deductions you can use in
your business. Some items are deductible in full, while others
take depreciation into account.  Also, the tax strategy will
be different for small businesses operating out of the home
versus brick and mortar businesses that are independent from
the household.

A bookkeeper can take the headaches away for you to some degree, and you don’t have to hire one onto your staff.  If you can’t quite afford one yet, then take pleasure in knowing that all is
not lost with the vast amount of do-it-yourself resources
available to the small business owner.